Eternal Friend Zone
by Hydrochloric Cutie
Summary: There is a new staff member coming to Hogwarts and Neville is perfectly happy with this new placement.


Eternal friend zone

Even after being out of Hogwarts for five years and becoming the Herbology Professor when Sprout retired, Neville Longbottom was eternally stuck in the friend zone by practically every girl he met. He might get up the courage to ask a girl out but he comes off as such a nice guy, they are telling him that he is such a good friend. It frustrated Neville to no end. He wasn't a bad looking guy, rather fit, and actually quite intelligent – a catch by any standard. All of that changed when a new Potion's Mistress was hired.

Neville walked into the staff meeting and saw none other than Hermione Granger. "Mia?" he called out. Her head quickly turned from the fire place and spotted Neville. A huge grin spread across her face and she ran over to her old friend. Neville wasn't quite prepared when she jumped on him for a hug. Acting on instinct, he wrapped one arm around her back and another around her bottom. "Um, It's good to see you too Mia," he chuckled.

"I've missed you Nev," she murmured, her face buried in his neck. They heard Professor McGonagall clear her throat from off to the side. Neville blushed a nice shade of crimson as he realized his hand was still on Hermione's bottom. He let her down gently and took a step back.

"Sorry Minerva," he mumbled.

"Quite alright, I'm glad you like the new potion's mistress – especially since you two have to work so closely together," McGonagall replied, a knowing look on her face.

"Yeah, it'll be nice to work with a friend."

"So you don't like working with me?" a dark voice questioned from the doorway, a smirk on their face.

"Never," Neville replied, acknowledging Severus. He had been moved back to DADA professor. At first their collegial relationship was rough, especially gien that Severus had made Neville's schooling a nightmare. But once Severus saw how at ease and knowledgable Neville was around plants, they actually got along. Together, they were able to modify a few potions, cause less allergic reactions because of their combined knowledge.

"At least your new professor is much easier on the eyes," Severus replied lightly, moving further into the room. "Hermione, lovely to see you again."

"Same for you," she replied, allowing him to kiss the back of her hand.

Neville sighed. It was the beginning of the end. Hermione, as beautiful as she was, would find herself a man, then come to him to complain or blush, or gush… yet another friend.

Their staff meeting began quickly, and after it was over, Minerva asked Neville to show Hermione to her new quarters. As luck would have it, they were both on the first floor, and down a corridor just off the Entrance Hall. Their quarters were hidden behind portraits of flowers – Neville's being Mimbulous Mimbletonia, and Hermione's being Devil's Snare.

"Alright, I know why I have my plant, but why do you have Devil's Snare?" Neville questioned.

"Oh, in our first year, after I put you in that full body bind – which I'm extremely sorry about by the way – Harry, Ron and I went to get past Fluffy, Hagrid's 3-headed dog. Once we got past him, we ended up falling into a huge pile of Devil's Snare. I was the one to figure out how to get us out of it."

"Sunlight?" Neville asked.

"Bluebell flame," she beamed.

"Quite impressive for a first year; although you never really acted like a first year."

"I was a bit of an over achiever wasn't I?" she looked embarrassed.

"Just a little bit," Neville held up his fingers close together. Hermione giggled but playfully slapped his arm.

"Mean," she said. "Now, so I have a password?"

"Not yet, your door hasn't been activated. You need to touch your wand to the door knob and tell it a password."

Hermione did as she was instructed, putting the tip of her want to the door knob and muttering "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good," The door knob glowed and returned to its brass color. She turned the knob and it gave way. "Hey it worked. " Neville let out an indignant snort. "Well, I was going to invite you in for a drink and to catch up, but now I don't know…"

"Oh come on, you know you want me in your rooms," he teased.

"True," she commented, smirking. "Well, come on in the. What would you like? I'm sure the house elves wouldn't mind bring up something."

"You want a house elf to do work? Where is my Mia and what did you do to her?"

"Nothing, it's just, they like to work" she shrugged. "I gave up on trying to free them our last year here."

"Nice, I'm good with a firewhiskey or something."

"Sounds good to me too. Winkey?" Hermione called out to her empty living room. A loud crack was hard and the small house elf appeared. "Is Miss wanting something?"

"If it isn't too much trouble, could we have a spot of dinner and some firewhiskey?" Hermione asked politely. The house elf nodded and apparated back to the kitchens. Hermione went into her bedroom to put on something more comfortable than her business robes. Neville, being that he was used to staff meetings, was already in a Hogwarts Quidditch T-shirt and jeans. A moment later, Hermione emerged in her Hogwarts t-shirt and some sweatpants. Neville's eyes widened. She almost looked more hot in these clothes than the fancy wares.

"Lookin' good there Mia," Neville commented, eyeing her appreciatively.

"Not too bad yourself Neville," she replied easily. Winkey broke any kind of tension in the room when she brought some dinner (Shepard's pie) and their drinks. Neville shook off the feeling that she had tried to flirt with him; Mia was his friend. He shouldn't be thinking about carrying her off to her room for a proper shag. He kept are his thoughts to himself during dinner, but made small talk with Mia. "Alright, spill it," Hermione cajoled, finishing her second shot of fire whiskey.

"What?" he chuckled, matching her drink for drink.

"You can tell me Nev, who are you shagging?" Hermione asked.

"No one," he insisted. "Got a ton of girls that are friends, but that's all they ever want. What about you?"

"Well, no one at the moment, but I've got my eye on someone new," she replied, moistening her lip with her tongue.

"What about Ron or Harry, always those rumors around."

"Oh, those two? Nah, they're currently shagging the Patil twins," she replied, taking another shot.

"Alright, tell me about this new guy," he prompted.

"Oh well, he is tall, dark, and handsome and doesn't really know how awesome he is," she began.

"Sounds like a catch. You try seducing him yet? Use your feminine wiles?"

"I've been trying," she said, getting up and making her way over to Neville's chair. "Is it working?"

"W-w-what?" Neville spluttered. "You fancy me?"

"What'd ya say? Let's just go for it," she said, perching herself on the table in front of him. She put a hand lightly on his chest. "You felt so good against me earlier, holding me; you've gotten a lot stronger since school."

"You're playing with fire Mia," he warned, slowly standing up.

"Burn me," she teased. He smirked at her and attacked her mouth. It felt so good to kiss someone again, to touch someone, feel them wanting you. Hermione gave as good as she got, running her hands up and down his back, letting her nails scrape ever so slightly, driving him mad.

Deciding to take charge before she changed her mind, he picked her up so she was forced to wrap her legs around his waist. This put them at a better height to kiss as well. Neville broke from her lips and leaned in to taste her neck. Hermione threw her head back, letting out a wonderfully sounding moan. He carried her toward the back of her quarters to what he correctly assumed was her bedroom; it had already been set up by the house elves earlier that day. They fell onto the bed and Hermione rolled them so she was on top. Her clothes were being taken off at lightning speed, and Neville struggled to get caught up to her. It took some fumbling and some creative positioning to get them both naked, but when they did, things progressed quickly.

Hermione slid down onto him, and threw her head back, moaning in ecstasy. Neville grabbed her hips and helped guide her movements, bringing her firmly down on him. He couldn't believe that this girl, no woman, was currently riding him. All of his years at Hogwarts she was an enigma to him, belonging to Ron Weasley and Harry Potter. Sure she helped him when he needed it, especially in potions class. But they never really hung out until the time with Dumbledore's Army. Even then, it didn't seem like they were really close. But now she was really excited to see him, and basically having her way with him. But Neville didn't want her to get the impression that he was that same shy boy from back in the day. He hooked his ankle around hers and flipped Hermione on her back, driving into her with surprising force.

Hermione's breath caught in her throat when Neville brought his weight down on her slim frame. She loved this side to Neville. He was always the shy one when they were back in school, and in Hermione's experience in the 'real world', the quiet ones were the ones to watch out for. She had secretly had a crush on Neville when they were in Hogwarts, but people had expected her to go out with Ron. Neville was always kind to her, but she never had the courage to say something. But now she was teaching at this school with him, and she had a second chance at Neville.

Hermione was practically digging her nails into Neville's back had he pistoned into her. She couldn't believe this was finally happening. She could feel her release building from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. Neville's hips were starting to stutter. His breath came short and harsh, and he was soon roaring his release and Hermione snapped as well.

Neville rolled off of Hermione and pulled her close. "Wow," Hermione breathed heavily.

"Yeah, that about sums it up," Neville said.

"I can safely say that I want to get burned more often if that's how it feels," she giggled, turning to snuggle her head on his chest.

"I definitely think I can burn you," Neville said, putting his arm around Hermione's shoulders.

"I really think I'm going to like it here," Hermione sighed, relaxing further into Neville's arms.


End file.
